Word count

I'm clearly not talented enough to figure out the sidebar issue, so the word count will get updated in posts instead. It's going to be a marathon to hit 30,000 words by June 1, but I'm trying!

20,505 / 90,000 (22.8%)

Househusbands

My husband has the week off this week, so he's watching the kids while I'm at work. Although I was distressed much of the day wondering how they were doing, I did get a taste of what it must feel like to be a man. I left the house before Kira was up so no "don't go mommy!", no crying, no feeding of breakfast. I didn't have to drop the kids off so my commute took half the time, and I got back to a lovely, cleaned house and the knowledge that he actually put the baby DOWN for a nap and she slept just fine. I called once and he accused me (rightly) of checking up on them and called out to Kira "Do you have all of your fingers and toes?" To which she replied with I'm sure a furrowed brow "Yes, but they aren't all painted perfectly!"

.... and just when I was thinking "hey, why is he better at this thing than I am" he mentioned that the baby wasn't eating much milk. Odd. She loves milk. I got home and saw that virtually all the milk I'd left was still there. Odder yet. And then he told me how much baby food she ate (a ton). Hmm... finally he asks if he was supposed to warm the milk before he gave it to her. Good Lord. Fortunately, she's a chubby little thing and seems to have survived.

Glenn A. Robertson
Feb 1, 1926 - April 14, 2006

I received a phone call at 8:46 in the morning on Good Friday. It was my husband asking me where I was. At home of course, where else would I be at this time? He said he had to tell me something. And then he told me that my Grandpa Glenn had died in the night. He didn't know the details, but my mother hadn't wanted to wake us up. So the landscape of my life changed with a phone call.

It doesn't seem like news should come that way. A morning phone call should be to invite you to coffee or check that the girls are doing ok, not to tell you that someone you know is gone. And so I hung up and had to adjust, had to look at my life and say, your life is now less one person who loved you, who you looked to, who you modeled and admired. It was sudden and unexpected and everyone is still grieving. My Grandmother knew him her whole life, married him at 16, was saved with him, baptised with him, raised her family with him and is now facing life without him at the end. It's hit us all very hard. I love you, Grandpa. I can only imagine all the people you've met already in Heaven. You've made friends everywhere you've gone and I'm sure your final trip is no different. Save me a place by you. I love you.

Mini update

I've updated the word count meter - it sure is moving slowly. But, I got another plotting problem solved, so it should pick up from here. If I could convince Gigi that she doesn't have to only sleep *on* me, then I'd have a little more time to write. Parenting problems colliding with writing problems.

Still working on the sidebar issue. I think I have a potential fix. Hopefully things line up properly after the next update. But any HTML gurus are welcome to propose solutions!

Once again, all the kiddos are sick at my house. I can't imagine why they get sick so much. They take vitamins! They eat healthy! OK, that's all and it wasn't much. Check back tomorrow!!

Novel Update

So, I found a ticker of sorts for word count. In it's honor, I revamped my blog to help me focus on writing a little bit. This is the "scribe" template. :) Sadly, I'm not good enough with HTML to know why I can't get the sidebar to line up, but I'm working on it.

Novel update:
1) Edited Chapter 8 - I know, no editing till the end of the first draft, but I needed to edit to get my head back in the game
2) I realized I was stuck on plotting because I needed to do a little research. I found a great person to talk to and set up an appointment to talk. YAY!
3) Got back on track with writing daily and found the word count meter to help me stay motivated. Gotta love graphics.

Expect to see my favorite podcasts coming to a sidebar near you soon. Mur Lafferty's "I should be Writing" and Michael Stackpole's "The Secrets" really keep me on track. "The Kissy Bits" is good fun, too.

Religious Freedom

I think Afghanastan doesn't quite understand it yet:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/21/afghan.christian/index.html
Rahman's case illustrates a split over the interpretation of the Afghan constitution, which calls for religious freedom while stating that Muslims who reject Islam can be executed.

Can't someone stop this execution? I was haunted for years after reading of the women condemned to death by stoning in Kenya under Sharia for having a daughter supposedly as a result of adultery (more likely rape). I recently read in O that her case was tried and won by a woman taking on Sharia from within in Kenya. I'm hoping she visits Afghanastan.

More Kiraisms

On the phone to my mother regarding her parents being sick:

"My daddy has a tummy ache and mama is lying down with Greta so it's up to me to take care of everybody. I mean, they're my parents so they are raising me. But I'm taking care of everyone."

Poor neglected child. ;)

While Randy and I were discussing something...

"Excuse me, but I need to squeeze my way into this conversation."

Me - you do?

"Yes, I can help you understand the angles better. A conversation is like a triangle. It has a point at the top. I can help you understand the angles and get to the point."

How do you turn down that type of help?!

Kindergarten

We’ve just decided for certain where Kira will go to Kindergarten. After spending three years researching educational styles, I had decided to homeschool Kira with a classical curriculum. I felt great about the decision and knew that she’d love the structure and would learn so much about her world. And then, my husband very gently said that he thought she’d really like a teacher that wasn’t “Mom”, that she responded very well to teachers and interacted with them differently than she does with me. And he was right. I saw that even though I didn’t want to. And I couldn’t quit my job just yet, so I really wouldn’t be able to homeschool her the way I wanted to, which in my mind would be something like a moneyed Victorian family that took their children on archeological digs and trips to the British museum. I might come up a little bit short. But I knew how I wanted her taught and I conceded that if I could find a Christian school with small class sizes, that used the curriculum I had picked out, that was nearby and reasonably priced, I’d send her. A likely scenario.

I plugged it all into Google, and it was the first hit. I visited the classroom and I loved it. I sent my husband to the open house to find something wrong with it and he went twice and couldn’t find anything. We went to the interview and they loved Kira. She showed them all that she knew and at the end they said, “You must be so pleased with how you’ve raised her.” Well, yes, thanks. I am. J

Now, I am excited about her school and how much she’ll learn and how well she’ll do. I have to remind myself that she’s going, not me, and I’ll have to content myself with her reports of her day. I can’t wait to help her with homework and chaperone the field trips and volunteer in the classroom and hopefully I”ll get a chance to do all of those things.

I look at her, and my eyes well up now. I see my new baby and look forward to her turning 1 and 2 and 3 and at the same time miss so much those years with Kira. She’s such a mature, well spoken little girl already and not the quirky, crazy toddler she was. She used to be so obsessed with ice cream, that when we’d play Chutes and Ladders she’d lick the ice cream card whenever it came up. It’s all crinkled and warped now. Once, at my friend Heather’s house, she asked if Squeegee could come home with us when we were leaving. Squeegee was her imaginary friend, and how she said “Luigi” as in Mario and Luigi. We asked her where he was and she said “he’s that little green guy in the corner.” So we winked and nodded and said “Oh sure, he can come.” Then all ran to stop her as she started to roll a watermelon out the front door. And at two, when Randy was working two jobs, and couldn’t get time to go Christmas tree shopping with us, we picked out a tree and brought it home ourselves. We put the lights on it together and then I plopped down in a chair. But she grabbed my hand and pulled me away from my computer and in front of the tree. She said “Oh, Mama, isn’t it beautiful?” and I stopped and paused and looked at her and said “Yes, it is.” That was the year she called me “Christmas Girl” and learned to sing “Up on the Housetop” with motions I made up and begged to go to the North Pole.

And now she’s going to Kindergarten… in 6 months, but it might as well be tomorrow. I remember being 16 and lying in bed at home and thinking how I’d blink and be headed off to school, and I was scared to live on my own. But I was wrong, I blinked and I’m sending my daughter to school and I’ll blink again and she’ll be in college.

Let the chewing begin

Miss Gigi's first tooth has broken through! She's been teething since 2 months, and now has something to show for it. A lovely, sharp, little incisor on the bottom right side. YAY Gigi!!!!

Finallly...

I got my stuff together and uploaded all the pictures on my camera. :) Here are a few of the first *cough* or second *cough* feeding. :)

Clearly, she's not completely thrilled. She did all she could to tell me she wanted a cupcake, not mushed up bananas or rice cereal, but mean old Mom didn't listen.

And in case anyone is wondering, yes, her hair *is* turning red! (Note the shock of black hair still hanging on by a thread!)

Bananas Shananas

Forget the rice cereal and mushed up bananas. Gigi likes cupcakes!

I was holding her yesterday with my fresh French Vanilla cupcake topped with homemade buttercream vanila and orange icing. I turned my head and "CHOMP!" Little baby Jaws had her mouth full of cupcake and icing all over her nose and forehead. I stared in disbelief in time to see her going for another chomp. Let's just say it wasn't the same scrunchy little face she made at the banana. She knew I'd been holding out on her!

(And yes, I did try to get all the cupcake and icing away from her sweet little face. Hopefully the damage was minimal)

Who's that eating with a spoon?!

GIGI!!! I took the hint that she was ready for solids when she tried latching on to my chocolate chip cookie today. I think that's probably discouraged as a first food, so I dutifully pried it out of her mouth and mixed up some rice cereal. No spoon confusion here, she downed the whole feeding! (No skinny babies here, either, for that matter).

Do I have pictures? No. She's the second baby and I'm the typical mom of a second baby. I need one more arm to hold the camera!

Who woke up in Peoria today?

The Mariners pitchers and catchers! That's right, baseball season is here for all intents and purposes. Ichiro is still in Japan and Joel is still playing for Puerto Rico. Our Venezuelan players are still with the VSL, but pitchers and catchers are where they belong!!!

I'm very excited about Kenji "Joe" Johjima - he's one to watch. We haven't had a strong catcher since Danny Wilson and he's been needing a good protege for a very long time. Those will be big shoes to fill, but I think Joe is up to it.

Go M's!

Where are all the tickers?!

So many goals, so few tickers. Why are they all about weight loss or counting down the days? If I could really write code, I'd create my own, but I can't, alas. So, here are my goals. I'll be updating progress frequently. Maybe I'll add a sidebar for them. Hmm....

Weight loss:
Today, 2/14, zero pounds lost
By June 30, 10 pounds lost

Conservative, yes, because I'm still nursing. I'd rather say 30 pounds, but that's probably not healthy.

Novel:
I'm at 18,712 words today - by June 30th I need to be at 30,000.

Debt:
I'll just go with percentages. No need to tell the world how much I have. Needs to be 25% paid off by June 30th.

Stay tuned for fun little graphical representations of all of the above. :)

This just in... from Stars Hollow

Even Lauren Graham thinks the feud was a mistake. Of course, she also thinks Lorelai should end up with Christopher, so her word isn't exactly gold, but it's something.

Recent Kiraisms

On School...
"I think that going to school two days in order (in a row) will be a bit challenging, but I can handle it"

On choosing between tap and ballet...
"Well, when I try to do dances from the Marvelous Musical Mansion (her favorite video) I can tap dance pretty easily, but I think I need more help with ballet so I should have a teacher if I want to do ballet every time I'm onstage"

On her sister...
"Gigi is my treasure"

On my hair...
"You should take a few inches off the ends so you can see your shirt more and color it. But don't do all blonde. Leave some brown in there for interest."

On her hair...
"I like it down better than in a ponytail, don't you? That way you can see more of it."

On What Not To Wear...
"They can turn anyone around!"

Go Hawks!!!

I can't really claim to follow the NFL well or be very knowledgeable about it, but I grew up knowing the names Chuck Knox, Jim Zorn, Kurt Warner and Steve Largent. I thought you were part of the family.

Matt win this one for all of us!

GO HAWKS!!!!!

You're next, Mariners. ;)

I'm it!

I've been tagged by HB, so here's my four!

Four Jobs You've Had:

1. Eddie Bauer Salesperson
2. Marine Insurance Adjustor
3. XBOX games tester
4. Assistant to crabbing vessel owner

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:

1. The Philadelphia Story
2. When Harry Met Sally
3. Dirty Dancing
4. What About Bob?

Four Places You've Lived:

1. Santa Barbara, CA
2. Bury St. Edmunds, East Anglia, UK
3. Seattle, WA
4. Pasadena, CA

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch:

1. Gilmore Girls
2. Lost
3. Without a Trace
4. 24

Four of Your Favorite Books:

1. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
2. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
3. Absalom, Absalom (William Faulkner)
4. Persuasion (Jane Austen)

Four Places You've Been on Vacation:

1. Hawaii
2. Disneyland
3. Whistler
4. Paris

Four Websites You Visit Daily:

1. CNN
2. Baby Name Board
3. Ebay
4. iTunes Music Store

Four of Your Favorite Foods:

1. Yellow Curry
2. Filet Mingon
3. Pad See-ew
4. Maytag Bleu Cheese Salad

Four Places You'd Rather Be Right Now:

1. Santa Barbara's East Beach with ice blended vanilla in hand
2. The massage room at in Spa
3. Jerusalem's, the old city market sipping some Turkish coffee
4. In an English classroom

All the bloggers I know have already been tagged. ;)

Coffee anyone?

I just learned on Oprah that coffee... drum roll please... makes you younger! Yes, coffee shaves years off of your "real age" and keeps you younger and healthier. I should be about 16 in that case.

And so it turns out that one of my vices is actually a virture. Hooray!

Work Life Balance Seminars

I find it ironic that the work life balance group at my firm is holding a seminar after work next week on how to juggle work and your personal life. Here's a thought... how about attending less afterwork seminars?

And yes, there is a whole group devoted to this that has extra meetings, deliverables, and seminars to talk about work life balance... it's like holding a chocolholic convention at Hershey's headquarters.